Chapter 50

In the middle of the night, Shen Yu began to feel something burning in his head, dragging him into a chaotic, sweltering swamp. His mind ached, and his body ached too.

He was feverish and somewhat delirious. Though he didn’t know why this was happening, Vidonien knew it wasn’t a good sign. He frowned, got up, grabbed a blanket to drape over himself, and went downstairs.

He desperately needed to replenish his nutrients now to fight off this damn weakness.

Wearing slippers, Shen Yu reached the first floor and heard the sound of water in the courtyard. His thoughts were muddled, so he subconsciously followed the noise and pulled open the storm door.

Cool moonlight bathed the lush green courtyard. Sodium lamps hanging from the tree trunks emitted faint light, illuminating the tall silhouette behind the water table.

The female insect stood behind the water table, his lower body obscured by it. In the thick night shadows, his expression wasn’t clear, only the sharp contours of his face were visible—his brow furrowed deeply.

Why did he look so grim?

The female insect obviously heard the noise too. His hands paused, and he looked up.

Night mist carried on the wind. Standing at the edge of the courtyard, the tall, slender male insect wore pajamas. Because the weather was a bit cold, he had draped a blanket over himself outside.

The male insect’s long silver hair, not tucked into the blanket, cascaded over both shoulders. His deep, cold eyes and aloof features weren’t very approachable. At that moment, he pursed his pale lips and fixed a cold gaze on him.

Always so aloof.

This male insect was different from every male insect Ludwig knew.

Cold and dominant.

Unyielding, unshakable.

Seeing Shen Yu approach, Ludwig didn’t know why, but he hurriedly shoved the clothes he’d been washing under a pile of others. Realizing what he’d done on instinct, Ludwig’s mouth twitched. “……”

Shen Yu walked over, his gaze sweeping across the washing station. He spotted the clothes he’d changed out of after his bath and asked in confusion, “You’re washing clothes?”

Ludwig noticed his gaze and cleared his throat lightly. “The washing machine broke.”

Shen Yu drawled slowly, “What a coincidence. The water heater broke too.”

Ludwig felt a bit guilty but kept a perfectly serious expression. “Good that it broke. Out with the old, in with the new.”

“Is that so?”

That casual question, delivered in the male insect’s cold voice, sounded almost like an interrogation of a criminal. Ludwig nearly thought he’d been caught. His eyes flicked over and landed on the male insect’s pale lips.

The lips had lost their usual color, making the male insect’s face look even icier, devoid of any vitality. Ludwig frowned, then realized the male insect’s voice sounded off—hoarse, like he had a cold.

Ludwig looked at Shen Yu, and Shen Yu looked back at him. His blue eyes narrowed slightly, the gaze icy. If not for the lips that were pale almost to the point of white, that expression really could have been intimidating.

Ludwig wiped his hands clean and reached out, pressing the back of his hand against the male insect’s forehead without hesitation. It was scorching hot.

He hadn’t expected the first time he touched this heat source on the male insect’s body to be like this. Ludwig concluded, “You’re running a fever?”

Shen Yu had tried to dodge at first, but probably due to his sluggish thinking, his reaction was slow too, and he didn’t avoid it. Hearing the female insect’s words, he repeated strangely, “A fever?”

Ludwig nodded. “Yeah.”

Shen Yu: “How could I get a fever?”

Ludwig was now certain this male insect was burning up bad. Male insects had weak constitutions to begin with, and because of their mental tentacles, they couldn’t improve via genetic modification either. Getting sick was commonplace, and the empire’s medical system was built entirely around male insects.

Female insects had astonishing self-healing abilities. Any problem could be solved with a bit of a male insect’s pheromones. If it was more serious, add some mental tentacles—guaranteed to work.

Ludwig reached out, frowning as he wrapped the male insect’s blanket tighter, then led him back.

He deftly located the medical kit, pulled out the special fever reducers and cold remedies developed just for male insects, and coaxed him into taking them.

The medical kit’s drugs were replaced regularly, but Shen Yu actually hadn’t needed them in a long time. As he swallowed the medicine, he stubbornly asked again, “Why did I get a fever?”

Ludwig reasonably suspected this guy had never taken basic education classes, but he still explained, “You get a fever when you’re sick.”

Shen Yu hung his head, his voice low. “……But I haven’t gotten sick in a long time.”

Ludwig offered dry comfort. “Maybe you haven’t been exercising enough.”

“Is that the reason?”

“Yes.”

“Is that the reason?”

“……Yes.”

“Really?”

“…………Yes.”

Just as Ludwig was losing patience and planning to leave this male insect to fend for himself with the butler robot nearby, a soft, fragrant warmth suddenly drifted over like a cloud and gently landed on his shoulder.

The sick male insect rested his fluffy head on his shoulder.

Faint breaths puffed against his shoulder and neck. Soft silver hair brushed his shoulder hollow, back muscles, chest, and abdomen, sending an endless, terrifying itch.

Ludwig stiffened and looked down. In his view, the male insect’s pale lashes were closed.

He’d always thought those eyes lacked any human softness, but when Ludwig couldn’t see those perpetually cold eyes, he realized they were the male insect’s most vital feature.

Like colored clouds that scatter easily or fragile glass—this male insect suddenly felt very distant.

As if touching him would make him dissipate.

Terrifying. He was actually pitying this damn male insect.

Ludwig pressed his lips together. One arm slid under the male insect’s knees, the other supported his shoulders, and he gently lifted Shen Yu from the sofa.

The male insect wasn’t as light or fragile as he’d imagined. He had a healthy weight.

The cold medicine contained sedatives, so the male insect slept deeply, his head lolling outward.

Ludwig reached out to steady the swaying silver head and rest it against his own shoulder.

He carried the male insect upstairs.

The second floor wasn’t much different from the first. Ludwig quickly identified the male insect’s bedroom. He nudged the door open with his foot, turned on the light, and bent down to tuck the male insect back into bed.

Ludwig straightened up and stood by the bed. Light fell from behind him, his tall female insect silhouette casting the male insect entirely in shadow. His face was shrouded in darkness too, giving off an intense sense of oppression.

A moment later, the female insect withdrew his gaze, intending to leave. As he turned, his foot kicked something under the bed. He looked down.

A black notebook, somehow fallen from the nearby bookshelf to the floor. Ludwig bent down to pick it up, planning to return it to the shelf.

The instant his fingers touched the notebook, he felt an odd texture. Ludwig frowned and flipped it over. The back cover’s pages were uneven, pitted, yellowed, with charred black edges from burning.

Burned?

Then why salvage it afterward?

Ludwig’s curiosity was instantly piqued.

He glanced at the male insect on the bed, confirmed Shen Yu was deep asleep, then unabashedly opened the notebook. The first thing that caught his eye was a prominent date. It looked like a diary.

Fasser Calendar 1086, Imperial Calendar 434, August 7th.

Ludwig raised a brow.

Fasser Calendar 1086—fourteen years ago?

His fingers flipped downward.

……

Experiment Subject No. 7’s first assault test ended in failure. Siduo attempted to forcibly strip the subject’s mental tentacles to verify the possibility of a spirit sea in male insects, but during the process, the subject’s vital signs flatlined multiple times. Under pressure from that side, they had no choice but to terminate.

……

Bad news: No. 7’s mental tentacles have vanished. This is disastrous. No. 7 is useless to that side now.

……

A pleasant surprise: Though No. 7 didn’t birth a spirit sea, it seems some pseudo-symptoms have appeared? Tested with a female insect—confirmed spirit sea assault phenomena!

Heavens, are we finally going to succeed?

……

That side is pressuring harder and harder. As expected, once the cooperative value is lost, their ugly faces show. Laughable. These damn female insects stole the male insects’ power, and now they pretend to be righteous?

Has Siduo gone mad, starting the second assault test by force? Whatever, I’ll indulge his madness once.

……

Ludwig frowned and turned to the next page. Due to the massive fire, the later entries were mostly gone, only scattered fragments that meant nothing when pieced together.

But from the snippets, it was likely the diary’s owner had some deal with the empire, then fell out over benefits. Those dogs in the White Prison were always insane. If this got exposed, who knew what uproar it would cause.

But exposure was unlikely. They dared act so lawlessly precisely because of the empire’s backing. The empire needed these experimental results to keep things running—like the damn mental shackles on his wrist.

Some phenomena described in the diary resembled the male insect before him, but the symptoms didn’t quite match. Though he’d initially thought this male insect lacked mental tentacles, during one treatment, the male insect had summoned them once.

That color matched the male insect’s eyes—light, bright blue.

The timeline didn’t match either. Fourteen years ago, Shen Yu was just a larva.

The diary’s owner hadn’t hidden much. This Siduo was probably Sidorey, the former male lord of the Sadro Family. From the male insect’s behavior, he’d broken away from the Sadro Family out of hatred for their failure to save his male father, right?

If the test subject really was the male insect, he should utterly loathe his male father. If so, that was far too contradictory.

Ludwig’s gaze lowered slightly.

The Sidorey death incident had been big news back then, but Ludwig had been busy on the front lines, expanding the empire’s borders to unprecedented extents under iron hooves, so he hadn’t paid it much attention.

He hadn’t expected such a secret behind it.

As if starting a nightmare, the male insect slept restlessly, brows furrowed. One arm slipped out from under the covers, rustling softly.

Ludwig pondered for a moment, then instead of returning the notebook to the shelf, he bent down and placed it back in its original spot on the floor. As he straightened, he saw the male insect’s extended arm.

The pale, smooth arm extended outward, ending at the wrist where a small terminal was fastened.

Ludwig’s brows pressed together. His gaze lingered long on that protruding terminal.

The room’s atmosphere grew utterly silent.

A moment later, the intimidating red-haired female insect bent down, like a mountain looming over. With a cold face, Ludwig moved that restless arm back under the covers, tucked in the edges properly, turned off the light, and left.

His footsteps faded farther and farther until they vanished completely.

The room plunged into pitch blackness.

Soon after, a red light flashed in the darkness, and Lily’s gentle, pleasant voice rang out in the night.

“Listening to your needs, awaiting your commands.”

“Danger alert lifted.”